Fairfax Media eyes bigger stake in Metro Media Publishing

Madeleine Heffernan

Fairfax Media is interested in increasing its stake in, or buying out, the real estate magazine and digital group Metro Media Publishing.

Real estates sources said Fairfax is eyeing MMP, of which it owns 50 per cent, with one saying a deal will be announced shortly.

But the real estate agents who are invested in MMP said this was not the case or declined to comment. Fairfax Media, which publishes The Age, Sydney Morning Herald and Australian Financial Review, also declined to comment.

Fairfax responded to the threat by buying a half stake in MMP for $35 million in late 2011, plus folding 32 mastheads from its community paper arm into MMP. MMP investors include real estate agents Kay & Burton, Jellis Craig, Marshall White and Bennison Mackinnon, and there are hundreds of agent-investors in its individual publications.

MMP has retained operational control and now publishes 15 publications, plus websites, providing advertising for the agent-investors as well as attracting revenue from other advertisers.

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A full takeover has long been speculated, and the MMP board held a board meeting on Monday in Melbourne.